The first player to be affected by Major League Baseball’s crack-down on those caught using banned performance-enhancing drugs was Milwaukee Brewers’ outfielder Ryan Braun, who was suspended for the rest of the season. One would think that it would be the struggling or fringe players who’d be more likely to cheat, but Braun was a 2011 National League MVP. He has been a star his entire career, beginning in 2007 when he was named the National League Rookie of the Year. So why, of all people, would Braun feel the need to cheat?

…

Research conducted by Zoe Chance, a professor of marketing at Yale School of Management, provides additional insight. Chance and colleagues found that, after people cheated on a test, they saw their inflated scores as a true measure of their ability.